A Positively Poetic Priest

  "Get back Satan, way back. Get back Satan, way back!" I want you to repeat this with me. Put your hand up ("Stop in the name of love" style) "Get back Satan, way back. Get back Satan, way back!" Together we are going to say this a few times during this sermon. "Get back Satan, way back. Get back Satan, way back!" I'm sure we all totally understand Simon Peter in the Gospel passage for today.  He loves Jesus, as his friend, mentor, teacher, and Messiah. He deeply cares about Jesus. He doesn't want anyone hurting or killing Jesus!  We don't want anyone hurting or killing people we love.  We get it.  This is part of the reason dealing with suffering is so hard.  We don't want people to feel pain, intentionally or accidentally, those we love and those we don't know. Yet,  suffering is a mark of being a disciple of Christ.  "Get back Satan, way back. Get back Satan, way back." Jesus, though, knows what will come of his ...

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 17 BCP 233) If you happen to watch our weekly Porch Pondering videos, you'll know that I have started a series on the Fruits of the Spirit. The list of the fruits of the Spirit come from Paul's letter to the Galatians, chapter 5, verses 22-23. Paul was exhorting the Galatians to stay away from bad behaviors and instead let the fruits of the Spirit grow in them, and he elaborates by specifically listing nine fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  The Collect for this coming Sunday asks God to "bring forth in us the fruit of good works." When we follow the way of Jesus ...

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 16 BCP 232) A Prayer for the Power of the Spirit among the People of God God of all power and love, we give thanks for your unfailing presence and the hope you provide in times of uncertainty and loss. Send your Holy Spirit to enkindle in us your holy fire. Revive us to live as Christ’s body in the world: a people who pray, worship, learn, break bread, share life, heal neighbors, bear good news, seek justice, rest and grow in the Spirit. Wherever and however we gather, unite us in common prayer and send us in common mission, that we and the whole creation might be restored and renewed, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In May, during the festival celebration of Pentecost, Presiding Bishops Elizabe...

I am a hypocrite. Not all the time, but sometimes it happens. A hypocrite is a person who acts in contradiction to their stated beliefs or feelings. Sometimes I am accidentally a hypocrite. I do things in situations I never thought I would encounter that are different than I thought I would do.  Sometimes I am simply a hypocrite because I do things even though I wish I could do something else. I believe in banning Styrofoam from the face of the earth, yet sometimes I end up buying things that have Styrofoam in it.  Or sometimes I learn new things and thus change my actions from previously stated feelings. Its not always a terrible thing to be a hypocrite. There are times being a hypocrite really means that you have learned and grown and now are doing things differently than you have stated before. In the Gospel passage from Matthew today, Jesus is a hypocrite. For all his telling off of the Pharisees for being a hypocrite,  it is such a human condition, that Jesus finds h...

 8/13/20 Wondrous Fruit Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 15 BCP 232) What are 'the fruits of [Jesus'] redeeming work?' In the Collect for this coming Sunday, we pray for the 'grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work.' So what are the fruits, and how can we receive them thankfully?  Immediately, the first fruit of Jesus' redeeming work which comes to mind is salvation. Through Jesus' acts of death and resurrection, we are saved from sin and death. This indeed is a hearty fruit! And, one which we are able to eat of continually. Another fruit which comes to mind is the fulfillment of God's promises....

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't   believe impossible things ."  "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've   believed   as many as   six impossible things   before breakfast." as written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll in his popular book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Six impossible things, before breakfast no less! Honestly though,  the idea of Jesus walking on water  doesn't seem all that impossible. Seems like God-Incarnate would naturally be able to do something like defy the laws of physics and walk on water. What is almost impossible to believe, what seems most amazing in this story, is that Peter walks on water. Peter, a clumsy human being, defying the laws of gravity. Sadly of course, because it is Peter, and he doesn't seem to do anything right for ...

From Johnny Appleseed, "Oh, and every seed I sow, Will grow into a tree. And someday there'll be apples there, For everyone in the world to share. Oh, the Lord is good to me, Oh, the Lord is good to me, And so I thank the Lord, For giving me the things I need; The sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me." Franklin lies on the wandering path of the American legend Johnny Appleseed, otherwise known as John Chapman, born in Massachusetts in the late 1700's. He kept journals as he walked across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois. He planted apple cider orchards (not the juicy apples we normally eat). But the apple cider was helpful for the settlers who followed him later in order to have something to drink instead of unsanitary water. Even during his lifetime, legends began to spring up about this interesting and pioneering man. In every regard, Johnny Appleseed was a carefree and generous sower. He planted in places where there w...

"Nurses protest unsafe working conditions" "Teachers worried about feeling unsafe in returning to schools." "Businesses cited for unsafe regulations" Feelings of being not safe these days are prevalent. Across the country, m any people feel unsafe on a daily basis,  especially in the crisis of the moment.  For those of us who are used to feeling safe,  it can be a strange experience to feel unsafe,  and it changes how we feel about what is going on in the world.  Yet, even in our own country, millions of people feel unsafe on a daily basis.  Either because of their race or their gender or their sexual orientation or their disabilities or because of the threats of the people around them, they feel unsafe on a normal basis. Feeling unsafe is in many ways a eye-opening experience.  From what I know about our congregation,  most of us have not had to live most of our lives this way.  We have places and normal times of feeling safe.  One of t...

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 14 BCP 232) It is hard to truly always be right. We like to think we are always right, about everything, naturally. However, we all do come to terms with being wrong occasionally. The Collect for this coming Sunday prays for God to help us always think and do what is right, so that we can live according to God's will. While we may think we are always right on human terms, this is a whole different story.  Thinking and doing and living according to God's right will is very different than simply doing what seems right in human terms. God's way of doing things doesn't always seem right in human terms, so living according to God's will doesn't always look consiste...